As this Annual Review begins “The Equality and Human Rights Commission is here to make Wales a fairer place” – and as it states one of its key challenges is to “eliminate violence, abuse and harassment in the community”.
Working alongside Plaid Cymru’s Jocelyn Davies and Liberal Democrat Peter Black, I was one of the three AMs in the last Assembly who took the Welsh Government to the line over passage of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act (Wales) 2015.
We will therefore be supporting amendment 1 and, in this context, I move amendment 2, noting that the Commission’s aim of eliminating violence in the community requires implementation of the wider Welsh Government pledges made during the passage of the Act.
I moved amendments calling for national and local strategies to meet the gender-specific needs of women and men. The Stage 1 committee report recommended that Welsh Minister should ensure that services are tailored to the specific needs of men and women respectively.
The Minister opposed these amendments, stating that this “will already be taken into consideration by authorities in the preparation and implementation of national and local strategies”.
In emphasising and acknowledging evidence indicating that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by violence, the Domestic Abuse Safety Unit in Shotton has also chosen to provide a gender-neutral service, because they say that domestic abuse and sexual violence affects both men and women.
When I visited them last month, they told me that their male refuge received five referrals for just two spaces on its first day, that it has been full ever since, and that they're currently operating waiting lists - with referrals from across Wales and the UK.
I understand it's the only male refuge in North Wales, currently funded by the Council, supporting people to March 2018, with funding for female victims supported to 2019.
And a written Welsh Government reply to me last month stated that a survey conducted in January 2015 showed 274 refuge spaces across Wales, of which only four, in Montgomery, were provided for males.
I moved amendments calling for the national strategy to include provision of at least one perpetrator programme. As Relate Cymru had told us, ‘90% of the partners they questioned sometime after the end of their voluntary programme said that there has been a complete stop in violence and intimidation by their partner.’
The Minister responded that he did not consider my amendments appropriate, but had jointly funded research to help inform future responses to perpetrators.
As reiterated at the last meeting of the Cross Party Group on the Violence Against Women and Children, Relate’s programme “Choose 2 Change” is the only current Respect accredited in Wales.
Tomorrow I will be chairing a meeting of the Cross Party Group, highlighting the Respect Accreditation Standard for work with perpetrators, its evidence-based focus on behaviour change and risk management, and its emphasis on the safety of survivors and children.
We fought resolutely for inclusion in the Act of healthy relationships education.
As I said in the Stage 4, that the three Opposition parties had worked together to get concessions from the Minister, and he now stated that he would involve stakeholders from the Violence Against Women sector in developing proposals for healthy relationships education within the curriculum.
This Welsh Government must also note the Minister’s pledge then to report back to the Assembly on both this and perpetrator programmes.
I move amendment 3, noting the increase in reported hate crime in Wales, where Police recorded hate crimes show that the majority were racially motivated, but the biggest increase was in disability and transgender hate crimes – although this is impart due to better crime recording and more people coming forward.
Finally, I move amendment 4, where the Commission’s Annual Review states that it is “Notes that the Equality and Human Right’s Commission’s efforts to ensure that equality and human rights are embedded in work taken forward under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 – and the Future Generations Commissioner states that this will require “real and meaningful dialogue between communities, individuals and their public services”.
Equally, The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act places a specific duty on local authorities to promote the involvement of people in the design and delivery of care and support services.
But tell that to the Deaf Community in Conwy, denied their independence, wheelchair users in Flintshire denied access to the coastal path, and to disabled learners in Wales denied access to apprenticeships – with 1.3% of all apprenticeships were started by them, compared with 9% in England.